Boys At Tosconova Dies at 14 in Korea

The same day last month that South Korea lost top imported sire Ecton Park , the Asian nation also lost U.S.-bred stallion and grade 1 winner Boys At Tosconova .

Both stallions were reported as having died Dec. 1 by the Korea Racing Authority. The Korean Stud Book does not identify cause of death in its list of stallions that have died.

Mitchell: Grade 1 Winner, Top Korean Sire Ecton Park Dies at 26

Boys At Tosconova, a 14-year-old son of Officer , did not have the same opportunity to prove himself in Korea as Ecton Park, having been imported in late February 2020. He will be represented by his first crop of seven Korean-bred runners this year.

Bred in Kentucky by Hertrich/McCarthy Livestock out of the stakes-placed Coronado's Quest daughter Little Bonnet, Boys At Tosconova was sold as a yearling for $35,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sale to trainer Bob Hess Jr. out of the Royal Oak Farm consignment. The colt would make his racing debut in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs, where he finished second. Before his next start, he was acquired by the Siegel family's Jay Em Ess Stable and moved to trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. He won his second start by 12 lengths and went on next to win the Hopeful Stakes (G1). Jay Em Ess took on partners Hot Racing Stable, Richard Hale Jr., Todd Cady, and Denny Kanakaris prior to the Breeders' Cup World Championships and watched Boys At Tosconova finish second to Uncle Mo   in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1).

Boys At Tosconova won at 3 and 4 and was second in Westchester Stakes (G3) in his final start. He was retired with a 5-3-1 record from nine starts and $688,960 in earnings.

Questroyal Stud, Gus Schoenborn, and Taylor Made Stallions acquired Boys At Tosconova as a stallion prospect and launched his stud career at Questroyal North near Stillwater, N.Y. He stood for seven seasons at Questroyal and sired four black-type winners that include six-time stakes winner My Boy Tate  and New York Stallion Series Stakes winners Our Super Nova , Officer Hutchy , and Retonova . Our Super Nova also finished third in the 2019 Go For Wand Handicap (G3). As of Jan. 16, Boys At Tosconova had sired 49 winners from 68 starters and his runners had collectively earned more than $5.4 million.

South Korea lost six U.S.-bred stallions in 2022. Besides Ecton Park, the country lost Girolamo , Eurosilver , Dortmund , and Winchester . North America continues to be an important source of sire power for Korea with its top 15 leading sires of 2022 all bred in the U.S., though most on the list don't stand in Korea. Last year's leading sire is Algorithms , who stands in Uruguay but his runners earned 1.15 billion won (US$929,970) in Korea. Second-ranked sire Race Day  does stand in Korea and was represented last year by eight winners from 12 starters. Among the top 15 Korean sires, Race Day was represented by the highest number of 2022 starters and winners.